Anticipation: Mavs Training Camp top story - Just how 'tremendous' is Kristaps Porzingis?

Anticipation: Mavs Training Camp top story - Just how 'tremendous' is Kristaps Porzingis?

DALLAS - Anticipation. It's a big part of what the wait for Dallas Mavericks training camp (which begins Monday at the AAC with Media Day). And that's because Kristaps Porzingis is about to be a big part of the Dallas Mavericks.

In fact, in a way, Mavs coach Rick Carlisle has been "anticipating'' KP for quite some time.

“I can’t wait for him to get on the court with our guys,” Carlisle recently told Mavs.com. “Kristaps Porzingis has been one of my favorite young players ever since he came into the league. At 7-3-plus, he combines virtually every skill that there is in basketball – shooting, driving, rebounding, shot-blocking. He’s a good passer. And at that size, there are very few guys I’ve ever seen that can do all those things.”

And now, all that remains, following the blockbuster trade last February to bring KP here from the Knicks in order for him to team with Luka Doncic - is for Porzingis to actually do it.

Carlisle being enamored with the 7-foot-3 Latvian should not come as a surprise; surely everybody in basketball has at one time or another felt the same way about KP. In the Mavs' case, their love affair has been realized in part because front-office powers Donnie Nelson and Tony Ronzone are the subject of the Porzingis family's mutual affection. Truly, it's fair to say that if not for Nelson/Ronzone, the "trust'' that Carlisle so often talks about wouldn't have come as quickly with KP.

But it's here now, by virtue of his signing that $158 million deal. Now all that remains is "anticipation'' being rewarded by results. Porzingis is fully recovered from the serious torn left ACL he sustained on February 6, 2018, in a game against the Milwaukee Bucks. He subsequently missed out the rest of that season, and sat out the entirety of the 2018-19 season as well.

"Tremendous'' is the word Rick seems to favor when discussing KP, and why not? Porzingis, still just 24, was experiencing a breakout third-year campaign with the Knicks prior to the injury as in 48 games in 2017-18, he averaged 22.7 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks, while shooting 43.9 percent from the field and 39.5 percent from the arc.

Starting Monday, he'll “get on the court with our guys.'' ... and hopefully "anticipation'' will soon morph into "tremendous.''